TAL introduces four new ethics courses



TAL has introduced four new courses to its Risk Academy focused on ethical dilemmas.
As part of its Ethics Month throughout May, the courses will focus on navigating conflicts, ethical dilemmas, recent client determinations, and how embedding ethics can shape their client advice and daily business practices.
Ethics Month was created by the organisation to support advisers in developing their critical thinking, decision-making, and communication skills.
This information will be provided via webinars from the firm’s technical team which dissect the advisers’ Code of Ethics and provide tools and how they can be used in real-world scenarios.
Each webinar will count for an hour of CPD towards the nine-hour annual requirement in Professionalism and Ethics.
TAL national sales development manager, Jason Bamford, said: “TAL’s Ethics Month is designed to support advisers in their compliance with the Code of Ethics and provide a practical understanding of this important topic.
“Ethical decision-making lies at the heart of responsible financial advice practice. In today’s complex and rapidly evolving advice landscape, advisers are regularly faced with complex ethical dilemmas. Our aim with Ethics Month is to empower advisers with the knowledge and resources to confidently navigate these challenges.”
Advisers previously shared that it is difficult to obtain the required CPD hours in this skill set as there is a limited pool of content available.
Financial advisers have to do 40 hours of CPD annually, which includes nine hours of CPD in ethics and professionalism. However, in several submissions to the Quality of Advice Review, advisers mentioned this was difficult to complete and questioned why the total was so high compared to other professions.
The nine hours of ethics requirement compares to five hours required in each of technical competence, client care and practice, and regulatory compliance and consumer protection.
General practitioner lawyers have to complete 10 hours per year in total, accountants have to do 120 hours over three years, and surveyors have to complete around 15 to 20 hours per year.
Recommended for you
ASIC has launched court proceedings against the responsible entity of three managed investment schemes with around 600 retail investors.
There is a gap in the market for Australian advisers to help individuals with succession planning as the country has been noted by Capital Group for being overly “hands off” around inheritances.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager.
Having peaked at more than 40 per cent growth since the first M&A bid, Insignia Financial shares have returned to earth six months later as the company awaits a final decision from CC Capital.